EVENT

NYU Wagner Briefing Series: Digital Technology and the City

These briefings focus on the City's emerging use of innovative digital technology to improve agency performance.

Series Overview

Executive Briefing Series
Supporting High Performance Government: Leading Large Scale Change

Large scale change initiatives are efforts that require the collaboration of multiple agencies; the
creation of detailed, shared protocols; the requisite shifts in organizational culture; strong personal
commitment and leadership; and frequently the implementation of appropriate technology.

Accenture and New York University’s Robert F. Wagner Graduate School of Public Service, have
developed a breakfast series for public sector managers to discuss in some depth the multiple
managerial and leadership challenges of implementing large scale change. The breakfast series will
build from success stories of these kinds of management challenges. Each breakfast will include
senior managers as lead discussants and a moderator who will encourage lively conversation among
the discussants and the others in the room. Each breakfast will be organized around a central strategic
and managerial question of particular relevance to large scale change efforts.

UPCOMING EVENT

Analytics has an increasingly important role in City
Government management.

This briefing will focus on the use of analytics to improve agency performance and address gaps in
order toprovide better services to citizens and business. How are city leaders harnessing dynamic
data to inform strategic decisions and solve the city’s most pressing problems? Panelists will discuss
the challenges and opportunities of using information technology, data and predictive analytics, and
open data to better serve constituents.

The panel included:

Dr. Amen Ra Mashariki, Chief Analytics Officer,
City of New York (Mayor’s Office of Data
Analytics)

There is a demand on government to change how
services are designed, developed and delivered. And we
can’t use technology in isolation; there is so much
potential to capture new capabilities and think of what
wasn’t possible before. What we couldn’t imagine.

Previous Events

2015

Technology

Thursday, December 3, 2015

Digital Technology and the City:
Leveraging and Managing Technology to Improve Services

In an increasingly digital age cities are trying to find better ways to engage with citizens and get better policy results. This briefing focused on the City's emerging use of innovative digital technology to improve agency performance, and to increase equity in access for citizens and business. How can the city keep up with citizen demand and expectations of user-friendly, transparent and efficient technology? Panelists discussed the challenges and opportunities of an ever-growing digital community and how the City can take advantage of using digital technology to better serve its constituents.

Wednesday, March 25, 2015

It’s About the Talent – A Candid Discussion about the Leadership Pipeline

In partnership with the Mayor's Office of Appointments, this briefing examined the opportunities and challenges of leading large-scale change at the top level of New York City government. Panelists focused on how to best strengthen the operations of New York City agencies through the identification, development, and retention of creative, diverse and inclusive leadership teams.

The panel included:

Victor Calise, Commissioner, Mayor’s Office for People with Disabilities

Chloe Drew, Director, Mayor’s Office of Appointments

Emily Lloyd, Commissioner, Department of Environmental Protection

Gilbert Taylor, Commissioner, Department of Homeless Services

Moderator: Ellen Schall, Senior Presidential Fellow at New York University and the Martin Cherkasky Professor of Health Policy & Management at NYU Wagner

2014

NYC Talent Pool

Wednesday, December 3, 2014

Developing NYC’s Talent Pool to Drive Competitiveness

This briefing examined the intersection between bridging the skills gaps for New Yorkers and driving the city’s economic development agenda. Panelists discussed opportunities to bridge the cultural gap often experienced between employers and workforce providers, and explore how innovations in the use of data and technology can support targeted workforce investments and attract businesses to locate and expand in the city. We also heard the recommendations from the City’s forthcoming report on propelling outcomes for both jobseekers and the businesses that employ them.

Wednesday, October 1, 2014

Implementing the Mayor’s Innovative Strategies to Reduce Violence in the City

This Briefing examined the de Blasio Administration’s two related initiatives aimed at innovating and broadening the approaches used to reduce violence: launching an expanded initiative to reduce gun violence and the Mayor's Action Plan for Neighborhood Safety, an effort to improve public safety at housing developments with some of the highest rates of violent crime in the city. Panelists discussed the large-scale efforts to cut across multiple agencies and groups in order to create a citywide anti-violence initiative focused on community based efforts.

Thursday, July 10, 2014

Housing is an issue that affects every New Yorker, and even those who aspire to be New Yorkers. The Mayor’s comprehensive, five borough plan to build and preserve 200,000 affordable units over the coming decade, to support New Yorkers with a range of incomes, from the very lowest to those in the middle class, is a plan to “get ahead of the curve, to protect neighborhoods and build our city's next generation of affordable housing.” The Mayor has made clear that housing and balanced economic development are inextricably linked.

The achievement of the goals of this $41 billion plan will require a range of public policy instruments from zoning to taxes to creative financing tools, and the collaboration of all levels of government, of multiple city agencies as well as the private and nonprofit sectors. Leading and managing this Mayoral initiative is a major challenge of this administration.

2013

Using data to improve
NYC Government

Wednesday, October 30, 2013

Measured City: Using Data to Improve New York City Government

Senior government officials, civic leaders and experts joined to explore the recent evolution of performance management in New York City government and identify future challenges. Attendees learned how agency commissioners are using data to improve performance; how analytics is solving what had been considered unsolvable problems; and how performance data is helping New Yorkers influence City government operations.

The achievement of the goals of this $41 billion plan will require a range of public policy instruments from zoning to taxes to creative financing tools, and the collaboration of all levels of government, of multiple city agencies as well as the private and nonprofit sectors. Leading and managing this Mayoral initiative is a major challenge of this administration.

Tuesday, June 25, 2013

Addressing New York City’s Public Health Crisis through Food Policy

America is facing a public health crisis: 57 percent of adults are overweight or obese. In New York City, 1 in 5 kindergarten students, and 1 in 4 Head Start children, is obese. Our poorest communities remain disproportionately burdened by diet-related diseases.

The Bloomberg Administration has taken action to address these alarming statistics, enacting bold policy reforms that have improved New Yorkers’ access to and awareness of healthy foods, and making programs that promote food security more accessible. The Administration has also pursued initiatives to limit the consumption of unhealthy foods and beverages. These policies and programs cut across multiple City agencies. Our panel assembled leaders from across City government, who each play a key role in designing interventions.

Tuesday, April 9, 2013

The Continuing Evolution of 311

New York City’s groundbreaking citizen service center, 311, celebrated its 10th anniversary in April 2013. Initially conceived of as an easy way to reach any agency in the City, eliminating the need to search 14 pages of the phone book, 311 has evolved to include online capabilities and a performance management component. It has transformed how individuals and businesses interact with the City and how City leaders manage their agencies.

This Briefing examined 311’s impact on New York City over the past decade and explored the role that 311 can and should play in the future. Panelists discussed how 311 should be adapted to accommodate the many forms of communication beyond telephony that have become prevalent since its inception.

The panelists included:

Michael Flowers, Chief Analytics Officer for the City of New York

Rachel Sterne Haot, Chief Digital Officer for the City of New York

Cas Holloway, Deputy Mayor for Operations

Moderator: Beth Noveck, Visiting Professor at NYU Wagner

2012

Social Impact Bond Initiative

Thursday, September 20, 2012

Managing the Social Impact Bond Initiative

According to Linda Gibbs, Deputy Mayor for Health and Human Services, “Social impact bonds create the opportunity for social policy to evolve because they are designed to raise private money to support programs and services that advance the public good, and help move the government towards outcome-based contracts." This Briefing explored the challenges faced by City Hall and its Department of Correction working with a nonprofit and private sector team to launch the country’s first social impact bonds program. The team included MDRC, a national intermediary famous for rigorous social policy demonstration projects; the Osborne Association, a nonprofit criminal justice program innovator; and the evaluation team at the Vera Institute of Justice, supported by an investment by Goldman Sachs.

The panelists included:

Gordon Berlin, President of MDRC

Elizabeth Gaynes, Executive Director of the Osborne Association

Michael Jacobson, President and Director of the Vera Institute of Justice

Kristin Misner, Chief of Staff to the Deputy Mayor for Health and Human Services

Wednesday, June 6, 2012

The Young Men’s Initiative

The Young Men’s Initiative (YMI), the nation’s most comprehensive effort to tackle the broad disparities slowing the advancement of black and Latino young men, was announced by Mayor Bloomberg and Deputy Mayor Gibbs in August 2011. Through broad policy changes and agency reforms, YMI is a public-private partnership that will invest over $127 million in programs that will connect young men to educational, employment, and mentoring opportunities across more than a dozen city agencies. Nearly one year into the three-year initiative, our panel looked at how the program has been received, what the challenges are, and how results can be measured.

The panel included:

Richard Buery, President and CEO of The Children's Aid Society

Robert Doar, Commissioner of the Human Resources Administration

Melanie Hartzog, Family Services Coordinator for the City of New York

Kristin Misner, Chief of Staff to the Deputy Mayor for Health and Human Services

Dora Schriro, Commissioner of the NYC Department of Correction

Moderator: Gordon Campbell, President and CEO of United Way of New York City

Tuesday, March 6, 2012

New York City’s Strategy for Creating Jobs and Rebuilding the Local Economy

At every level of government, job creation is on the agenda. Programs and policies to spur job creation featured prominently in both President Obama’s State of the Union address and Governor Cuomo’s State of the State address. In New York City, the Bloomberg Administration is at the forefront of job creation efforts, undertaking ambitious development projects, attracting and retaining industry, and developing customer-focused, technology-driven services to help businesses cut through red tape, open their doors and hire workers. Join us for a conversation with several of the leaders behind the City’s strategy, as well as a community college president, as they discuss the obstacles and opportunities they face in getting New Yorkers back to work.

The panel included:

Robert LiMandri, Commissioner, Department of Buildings

Gail Mellow, President, LaGuardia Community College

Seth Pinsky, President, New York City Economic Development Corporation

2011

Using Analytics to Achieve Higher Performance

Tuesday, December 13, 2011

Using Analytics to Achieve Higher Performance

Forward-thinking government agencies are using analytical approaches and tools to drive smarter decisions about service delivery and operations, improving effectiveness and lowering costs. Our panel included representatives from city agencies that are doing pioneering work in the area of analytics, with varying approaches. Attendees learned about the utility and challenges of using analytics in government.

September 27, 2011

Working Together Strategically and Analytically to Improve Performance

Recurring themes of the Leading Large Scale Change Executive Briefing series have been driving innovation in City government, improving performance and doing more with less. During past Briefings, we learned that a number of agencies are utilizing methods of performance improvement developed in the private sector, like Lean Six Sigma. Through the Lean Six Sigma approach, facilitated groups analyze problems with performance and opportunities for improvement.

This Briefing focused on agencies in which teams of managers have been and are currently working in strategic ways to explore causes of weak performance and to develop and test solutions. Our panel included representatives from agencies that had extended experience with this approach and those that are now beginning to employ solutions. The panel also included a representative from the Mayor’s Office to offer an overview of City agency performance.

The panel included:

Douglas Apple, First Deputy Commissioner, Department of Housing Preservation and Development

Alan Aviles, President, Health and Hospitals Corporation

Richard Barth, Executive Director, Department of City Planning

Adrian Benepe, Commissioner, Department of Parks and Recreation

Elizabeth Weinstein, Director, Mayor’s Office of Operations

Managing Shared
Services

June 16, 2011

Managing Shared Services in New York City Government: The Quest Goes On

One year ago the Executive Briefing focused on the search for operational efficiencies in New York City government. As the fiscal crisis has continued to put pressure on New York agencies, we are revisiting the conversation to hear how city officials are finding ways to operate more efficiently. Examples include consolidation of technologies, integration of human resources and modernization of data infrastructure. In addition to specific agency initiatives, participants will discuss opportunities for improved service delivery across agencies.

March 30, 2011

Juvenile Justice and Child Welfare

New York City is in the process of modernizing its approach to juvenile justice. The integration of Children's Services with Juvenile Justice aims to improve long-term outcomes for children and teens involved with the criminal justice system. Please join us for an NYU Wagner/Accenture Executive Briefing Series breakfast to explore the management challenges in bringing together these two agencies.

The panel included:

John Feinblatt, Chief Advisor to the Mayor for Policy and Strategic Planning and Criminal Justice Coordinator for the Mayor

John Mattingly, Administration for Children's Services Commissioner

Vincent N. Schiraldi, Department of Probation Commissioner

Dora B. Schriro, Department of Corrections Commissioner

Moderator: Jeremy Travis, President, John Jay College of Criminal Justice

January 19, 2011

Making Changes That Last

Second only to the challenges of reforming pubic organizations are those of sustaining performance gains over time. For a variety of reasons, institutionalizing reforms has a checkered history in American public administration. In the past decade particularly, the city has undertaken transformative change initiatives, including a commitment to reduce poverty; to improve school performance; to achieve a greener and more sustainable city; to protect the city against terrorist attacks; and to keep crime down in a post-9/11 world that is in economic distress. How are city leaders addressing the challenge of making these changes last?

2010

Creating and Managing
Innovation

September 22, 2010

Creating and Managing Innovation in Service Performance at All Levels of City Government

The City of New York needs the “continual innovation” called for in Deputy Mayor Goldsmith’s book, The Power of Social Innovation. The book gives prominent attention to the work of Deputy Mayor Linda Gibbs, but many other New York City agency leaders and managers are creating, implementing and assessing the performance of innovations in their own areas of service.

This executive briefing will explore and analyze a number of these innovations, including a juvenile robbery intervention program at NYPD; a Web-based management system at DYCD that improves the quality of after school programs and provides savings for the city; the adaptation of a lean process improvement methodology at HHC; and the use of technology to improve efficiency in DHS inspections.

The panel included:

Linda Gibbs, Deputy Mayor for Health and Human Services

Stephen Goldsmith, Deputy Mayor for Operations

Alan Aviles, President, Health and Hospitals Corp

Meryl Weinberg, Executive Director, Metropolitan Hospital Center

Seth Diamond, Commissioner, Department of Homeless Services

Joanne Jaffe, Chief, Housing Bureau, NYPD

Jeanne B. Mullgrav,Commissioner, and Chris Caruso, assistant commissioner for Out of School Time programs

June 15, 2010

Operational Efficiency in New York City Government

The fiscal crisis has put enormous pressure on New York agencies and authorities to find ways to operate more efficiently. As Mayor Bloomberg announced in his State of the City Wagner address, centralizing and consolidating operations, among other strategies, are vital to preventing cutbacks to the city's core services.

Examples include consolidation of office space, streamlining human resources and modernizing data infrastructure. The Metropolitan Transit Authority is similarly examining and redefining how it operates. In addition to specific agency initiatives, participants will discuss the results of an interagency task force on operational efficiency deployed by Mayor Bloomberg, and the ways these challenges cut across agencies.

The panel included:

Moderator: Professor Anthony Shorris, Director of the Rudin Center for Transportation Policy and Management at the Robert F. Wagner School of Public Service and Former Executive Director of the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, deputy chancellor of the city’s Board of Education, and commissioner, NYC Department of Finance

May 6, 2010

Transforming the City’s Delivery of Affordable Housing

The economic crisis has put even greater pressure on New York City to increase the amount of affordable housing available to low- and moderate-income residents. As leaders are being tasked to be more creative and innovative than ever, they are evaluating the past, looking at new programmatic ideas and, most importantly, establishing new cross-sector and cross-agency partnerships to expand the capacity and potential for affordable housing solutions.

Please join us for a Wagner/Accenture Executive Series breakfast to discuss the innovative strategies that have helped the New York City housing market remain strong through the crisis and those new ideas that will continue to propel New York's ambitious housing goals into the future.

The panel included:

Moderator: Ingrid Gould Ellen, Professor of Urban Planning and Public Policy at New York University’s Wagner Graduate School of Public Service and Co-Director of the Furman Center for Real Estate and Urban Policy

Rafael E. Cestero, Commissioner of the NYC Department of Housing Preservation and Development

Seth Diamond, Professor of Public Policy and Urban Planning at New York University’s Wagner Graduate School of Public Service and faculty co-director of the Furman Center for Real Estate and Urban Policy

Marc Jahr, President of the NYC Housing Development Corp.

John B. Rhea, Chairman of the NYC Housing Authority

Adam Weinstein, President and CEO of the Phipps Houses Group and chairman of the Phipps Community Development Corp.

January 27, 2010

Leading Large-Scale Change Executive Briefing

The Next Wave in Health Care: Using Health Information Technology for Improving Front-Line Programs

This discussion will explore how New York agencies and institutions are influencing the front lines of health care reform and how city agency clients can benefit from these efforts. The significant recovery funding being directed toward sharing of client health care information has the potential to dramatically change how the government serves clients, creates jobs, and provides a range of services including housing, mental health and substance abuse. Panelists will discuss how city agencies can use this information to create a more connected community.

2009

Using and Managing Technology

October 13, 2009

Leading Large-Scale Change Executive Briefing

Finding New Solutions: Using and Managing Technology to Improve Local Government Services

In his 2009 State of the City addrress, Mayor Bloomberg called for innovative thinking that embraces new solutions to old problems. Illustrative of this effort, New York City’s Health and Human Services agencies, the Police and Building Departments are using technology as a tool to achieve increased communication, integration and integrity, as well as improved service delivery.

This briefing will focus on the ways innovative systems at the Buildings Department, HHS-Connect and NYPD’s Real Time Crime Center are using and managing technology to achieve their respective missions.

June 10, 2009

Leading Large-Scale Change Executive Briefing

Mayoral Control of the Schools through Performance Measurement and Management

This briefing will explore the experience of using performance management in the New York City public schools toward better outcomes and increased performance. The discussion will include a number of city government experts who will join Chancellor Klein in the exploration of the rewards and challenges of performance measurement and management.

March 3, 2009

Leading Large-Scale Change Executive Briefing

This briefing will focus on the city's work with its nonprofit partners and vendors in this nearly perfect storm of financial downturn. In these times of increased demand, retrenchment by government at all levels and by donors, it is critical that the city and nonprofit organizations work together to meet the complex needs of New Yorkers. This environment will necessitate an increased reliance on effective collaboration and performance based contracting.

The panel includes experts from a mix of human, cultural and central agencies, cutting across key areas of city contracting with nonprofits.

2008

December 10, 2008

Public-private partnerships were a critical element in the recovery of New York City during the fiscal crisis of the 1970s. While times have changed, many of the complex management challenges that existed then are similar to ones that we face today.

The blending of the public, private and nonprofit sectors has been touted as a necessary ingredient for government efficacy and innovation. Veterans of fiscal crises and expert navigators of public-private partnerships will discuss how we move forward during a period of immense fiscal uncertainty.

The panel included:

Dall W. Forsythe, Professor, Robert F. Wagner Graduate School of Public Service, NYU, Former Budget Director for the State of New York and the New York City Board of Education Charlotte Hitchcock, Chief of Staff and Director of financial regulation, Office of the Governor, and chair, New York State Asset Maximization Commission

September 17, 2008

Leading Large-Scale Change Executive Briefing

Perhaps not since the time of the “master builder” Robert Moses has the city aspired to and undertaken so many grand plans to shape the built environment of New York City. While the scale of change may be similar to that past era the challenges facing those who lead and manage the complex (Mega) projects, for examples, World Trade Center, Hudson Yards, Howland Hook/New York Container Terminal, are different and greater in many ways. To review the City’s experience in meeting these challenges we will convene several of the key City, State and Multi-State actors in this urban drama to share the lessons they have learned.

The panel included:

Timothy J. Gilchrist, Deputy Secretary for Economic Development and Infrastructure, New York State Office of the Governor

Robert Lieber, Deputy Mayor for Economic Development, Office of the Mayor

Christopher O. Ward, Executive Director, Port Authority of New York and New Jersey

May 22, 2008

Leading Large-Scale Change Executive Briefing

Doing More with Less: How to Navigate Cutback Management

Finding the resources necessary to support large scale change in government is challenging enough in times of expanding budgets, but managing transformations in periods of budget retrenchment is even more complex. The question is how to do more with less money. Veterans of periods of cutback management in the past will discuss their experiences and give advice on how to maintain momentum.

The panel included:

John H. Banks, Vice President of Government Relations, Con Edison, Former Deputy Director, City Council Finance Division

February 26, 2008

Leading Large-Scale Change Executive Briefing

Building What It Takes To Manage Large-Scale Change: Leadership Development in City Government

It is impossible to achieve large-scale change without the right leadership. This briefing will focus on leadership development in city government. It will look at various programs within New York City and how several agencies are addressing the challenge of leadership development.

Moderator: Dr. Robert J. Thomas, Executive Director of Accenture's Institute for High Performance Business and author of several books on leadership development, including most recently The Talent Powered Organization.

2007

December 5, 2007

Leading Large-Scale Change Executive Briefing

The broad topic is city/state collaboration—a vital component in the successful implementation of many city policies and programs. We’ve selected universal pre-kindergarten as an example. One of the few well established facts in education is that early childhood is critical to later learning. Mayor Bloomberg and Governor Spitzer have each made universal pre-kindergarten a high priority policy. Since the city is home to such a large portion of the pre-K population, state success depends on successful implementation of the program in the city.

Preschool children are the special concern of the city's education and human services agencies and provider nonprofit agencies. The city in turn depends on the state legislature, the State Education Department, community based agencies, and the support of the City Council to carry out its mission. The focus of our next Executive Briefing will be the management challenges faced in harnessing all these diverse forces to produce successful educational outcomes.

September 18, 2007

Greening the Big Apple: Implementing PlaNYC

Earlier this year, Mayor Michael Bloomberg unveiled PlaNYC, a comprehensive plan to improve New York City's environment by 2030. Transcending departmental and traditional sector boundaries, this large-scale change program aims to achieve a bold outcome for NYC—a sustainable future. One of many ambitious components, congestion pricing has already received a lot of attention and is on its way toward becoming a reality. Several of the city leaders central to creating and implementing the plan will join us to discuss the challenges they face in collaborating across organizational silos, prioritizing programs in a fluid environment and measuring success to green New York City.

With an introduction by Deputy Mayor Daniel Doctoroff, the panel included:

Adrian Benepe, Commissioner, Department of Parks and Recreation

Emily Lloyd, Commissioner, Department of Environmental Protection

Janette Sadik-Khan, Commissioner, Department of Transportation

Rohit Aggarwala, Director of Long-Term Planning and Sustainability, Office of the Mayor

Shaun Donovan, Commissioner, Department of Housing Preservation and Development

June 6, 2007

Earlier this year, Mayor Michael Bloomberg unveiled PlaNYC, a comprehensive plan to improve New York City's environment by 2030. Transcending departmental and traditional sector boundaries, this large-scale change program aims to achieve a bold outcome for NYC—a sustainable future. One of many ambitious components, congestion pricing has already received a lot of attention and is on its way toward becoming a reality. Several of the city leaders central to creating and implementing the plan will join us to discuss the challenges they face in collaborating across organizational silos, prioritizing programs in a fluid environment and measuring success to green New York City.

The management challenges of policing a changed city include:

Organizing police to play a leading role on the home front of the fight against terrorism.

Controlling and reducing crime with declining resources when crime has already been reduced to historically low levels.

Confronting new technology based crime while also using new technologies in fighting crime and terrorism.

Adapting policing to the always changing demography of the city, and the corresponding issues of police community relations.

Participants in previous briefings identified Police Commissioner Raymond Kelly as the speaker they would most like to hear.

March 7, 2007

Leveraging Technology for Advanced Service Delivery Results

From NYC 311 to ACCESS NYC and NYCAPS, customer-focused service delivery models enabled by innovative enterprise technologies are transforming how government agencies connect with citizens, businesses—and with each other. Agencies across the city are moving from siloed systems to integrated technology solutions that are breaking down traditional organizational barriers.

The result? Better citizen access to government, cross-agency collaboration and coordinated service delivery, greater accountability for outcomes, and measurable cost and process efficiencies. Our March 7 Executive Briefing will explore the next wave of enterprise technology and the opportunities and challenges involved in making the transition to using enterprise capabilities for enhanced citizen service, satisfaction and high performance.

With an introduction by Deputy Mayor Daniel Doctoroff and closing remarks by Commissioner Paul Cosgrave, Department of Information Technology and Telecommunications.

Panel:

Robert Doar, Commissioner Human Resources Administration

Martin Horn, Commissioner, Department of Correction

Patricia Lancaster, Commissioner, Department of Buildings

Martha Stark, Commissioner, Department of Finance

Moderator: Dall Forsythe, Professor, Robert F. Wagner Graduate School of Public Service/NYU, and former New York State Budget Director.

2006

December 12, 2006

This past summer the Mayor’s Commission on Economic Opportunity (CEO) report emphasized that any effort to successfully tackle poverty must include a comprehensive management strategy that uses multi-agency measures to track and manage poverty. It is evident that it is not possible for one agency alone to tackle poverty, but rather it is the responsibility of a wide range of agencies requiring the leadership of a wide range of city agencies, some obvious and some not so obvious.

This next briefing will explore the strategies for and challenges of coordinating a management approach for measuring, monitoring and managing the city’s anti-poverty agenda.

The panel opened with remarks by Mayor Michael Bloomberg, and closed with remarks by Linda Gibbs, Deputy Mayor, Health and Human Services.

October 24, 2006

Weathering the Storm: Planning for and Managing a Crisis in NYC

Hurricane Katrina reminded this country of the destructive potential and unpredictability of nature. It caused government agencies across the map to reassess their ability to react to natural disasters. Without advance notice of when and where a disaster may strike, however, this is a daunting task. Effective planning is the foundation of success in any large-scale operation, but it poses unique challenges when the timing, scope and even likelihood of an event are uncertain.

Using the sheltering strategy of the City of New York’s Coastal Storm Plan as an example, this session focused on how to plan for the unexpected, while balancing competing resources and bottom lines across multiple agencies.

Moderator: Peter Madonia, Former Chief of Staff to Mayor Michael Bloomberg, and current Chief Operating Officer of the Rockefeller Foundation.

June 22, 2006

Solving the Talent Challenge: Brain Drain or Magnet for Excellence?

Over the next five to 10 years, it is estimated that as many as 60 percent of government workers will be retiring from the workforce. This will result in a major exodus of talent and experience, complicating the on-going challenge of government competing with other sectors, both private and nonprofit, to recruit and retain talent.

Further complicating this long-term challenge is concern about a possible second term impact on staff commitment. An additional challenge in sustaining a workforce is assuring that staff skills keep up with the changing nature of jobs, as technology and other factors influence job design.

These issues require both short-term responses and long-term strategies. This briefing looked at specific approaches to grappling with this looming predicament by taking a close look at successful tactics and programs, with an eye towards the future and further opportunities.

Moderator: Barbara Gunn, Senior Vice President for Operations and Government Relations at the American Museum of Natural History, and former Director of Operations for the Mayor’s Office, and First Deputy commissioner, Department of Transportation, and Deputy Commissioner, Department of Parks and Recreation.

Discussants:

Dr. Elizabeth Arons, Chief Executive of the Division of Human Resources, New York City Department of Education

Peter Cannito, President, MTA Metro-North Rail Road

Peter Goldmark, Program Director, Climate and Air, Environmental Defense Fund, and former Executive Director of the Port Authority, New York State Budget director, and New York City Assistant Budget Director

Ann Williams-Isom, Deputy Commissioner and Special Counsel to the Commissioner, New York City Administration for Children’s Services

March 28, 2006

Working Together: A Close-in Look at Inter-Agency Collaboration

Large scale change initiatives often require effective inter-agency collaboration. The next Leading Large-Scale Change Executive Briefing session will focus on the major leadership challenges of inter-agency collaboration. We look in depth at two case studies of inter-agency collaboration: the homeless housing working group and the solid waste management program working group. Both are composed of a wide range of agencies, all of which have come together in intense collaboration with an approach and focus on holistic problem solving.

Moderator: Gordon Campbell, CEO, Safe Horizon, former commissioner, Department of Homeless Services, and dhief of staff to the First Deputy Mayor

2005

Leveraging Victory

December 6, 2005

Second Terms: Leveraging Victory

Second terms offer great opportunities and unique challenges. A second term is a renewed mandate with institutional knowledge already secured. Steep learning curves of a first term, especially for those new to city government, are no longer a barrier. Established relationships with internal contacts and external stakeholders serve as a strong base on which to solidify projects. And with acquired and earned credibility, an administration has the leeway to move on to even more challenging and ambitious initiatives.

Moderator: Linda Gibbs, Commissioner of the Department of Homeless Services

Discussants:

Stanley Brezenoff, CEO and President, Continuum Health Partners Inc., first deputy mayor in the Koch Administration, former President of the New York City Health and Hospitals Corp., and former Administrator of the New York City Human Resources Administration

Michele Cahill, Senior Counselor to The Chancellor for Education Policy, New York City Department of Education

Shaun Donovan, Commissioner, New York City Department of Housing Preservation and Development

October 19, 2005

Leading Without a Mandate: Strategies for Building Momentum

How can large-scale change occur when no single organization owns the proposed solution and when the interested institutions are in the public, nonprofit and corporate sectors? How does one mobilize interested parties and build momentum for change? What are the strategies for "jump-starting" large-scale change when responsibility and accountability is diffused across multiple levels of government and the private and nonprofit sectors?

Discussants:

Farzad Mostashari, Assistant Commissioner, Bureau of Epidemiology Services and Chair of the Primary Care Information Task Force, New York City Department of Health and Mental Hygiene

Dennis Whalen, Executive Deputy Commissioner, New York State Department of Health

May 18, 2005

Managing in a Fishbowl: The Press as Stakeholder

The press is an unpredictable stakeholder. How should public officials leading large-scale change include the press in their strategy for stakeholder management? Is it possible to develop a strategy that leads to positive media interest? And how can such a strategy help you react to unexpected coverage—either when the press breaks news of your initiative before you're ready or covers other agency news that diverts attention from your goal. How does knowing that any initiative may be exposed to public scrutiny at any time affect how you manage large scale change?

March 31, 2005

Defining Success: Peril or Power

Leaders often consider the role of outcomes primarily as an evaluative tool for understanding organizational impact. Measured outcomes can be forceful agents for change, clarifying organizational mission and garnering stakeholder support. Lessons learned in the process can affect both enterprise-wide and individual level initiatives.

On the other hand, defining outcomes aligned with agency goals is a difficult task. Public organizations often are charged to produce results using imperfect technologies in complex and dynamic environments, where success is far from guaranteed.

2004

Prisoner Reentry
in NYC

December 9, 2004

Capstone Briefing: A Case Study—Prisoner Reentry in New York City

The final executive briefing of 2004 examined efforts to facilitate effective prisoner reentry. Several of the key stakeholders involved—from senior city officials to prison wardens, to nonprofit executives discussed, in the context of this case, the key principles and ideas explored throughout the series, including:

Strategic challenges in defining the scope and pace of change.

Approaches to managing cross agency collaboration.

Internal and external stakeholder roles in leveraging buy-in and building innovation.

Crisis as a catalyst to innovation.

Challenges to sustaining innovation and maintaining accountability.

Organizational culture and processes as vehicles for reinforcing innovation.

September 22, 2004

Introducing Innovation: Sources of New Thinking

How can we best bring new thinking to old problems? How can we learn to reframe challenges so we see more possibilities? What are the advantages of relying on outside panels or task forces? What are the trade-offs that are implicit in these choices about where we turn for new ideas? These questions and others like them will be explored at this breakfast.

June 8, 2004

Managing Stakeholders and Allies: Balancing Collaboration and Autonomy While Maintaining the Pace of Change

Complex change initiatives require effective partnerships across multiple agencies, sometimes at different levels of government or across nonprofits and private sector organizations. Such partnerships can add complications while they increase the scope of what is possible. This breakfast explored successful strategies for enrolling agencies and other stakeholders in designing and managing new initiatives and for addressing resistance to collaboration. It also looked at the role that data and outcome management can play in facilitating collaborative efforts.

April 20, 2004

Defining the Pace of Change: How Much/How Fast?

Large-scale change initiatives are often spurred by public controversy over services that are perceived to be failing—concern over a dramatic increase in cases of resistant tuberculosis or long and cumbersome lines for drivers licenses, for example. They may also be driven by sweeping regulatory changes, such as the reform of the welfare system. Sometimes they are triggered by the capability of new technologies. In many of these cases the public definition of the problem may be either significantly ambitious or, in some instances, too narrowly defined.

A critical set of decisions that can set the stage for the success of a new large-scale change effort concern what the scope of the undertaking should be, and how rapidly it needs to be achieved. This breakfast explored the central tactical, strategic, and managerial questions that were considered in specific examples from public sector change efforts to shed light on this important question.

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